Monday, July 25, 2011

We had a
fantastic week. We have been working with some really great families and well, this
week they all decided to come to the Church. We were so happy. We had ten
people come. That’s a record for me.One
time when I was with Elder Paiz we had 12 people come, but we had two wards, so
that doesn’t count.

Something
fun that you don’t know is that every single day I eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner
with two other missionaries other than my companion. The ward that we have is
really big so we need four missionaries in the area.The new missionaries just came.One of them is a greenie from Missouri named
Elder Frost. I have been having fun helping him learn Spanish. He is not very
good at pronouncing the words.It’s
little by little at first. It’s been fun to think that I am not a Greenie any
more. I am starting to get “old” in the mission. Not super old like 20 months,
but wow, in like 15 days I will have 10 months in the mission. Sort of hard to
believe that now I have served in the mission longer than I worked the summer
before. I felt like that summer was the longest in my entire life. I guess I
felt I was still pretty new in the mission but when Elder Frost came… I
realized that I have a little bit of time in here. The real big gage we use
here to know when you have served a lot of time is if you have served in the
Jungle. It’s been fun to tell him, Elder Frost, all about the different things
that we do there in the jungle and how the people are. I got him really excited
to go there.

Oh,
before I forget I don’t know how I am going to get another pink tie but I will
try and I promise that this next Monday I will send the pictures that you want.
I have a secret to tell you. I saw the blog. I was talking to Noe, my convert,
and before I could do anything he opened it up.Well, I saw it all, and wow it’s
really cool. I liked how you put the picture of my zone up on the front and the
part that has all the names of my companions.

The Zone
conference that we had was super great.I
had the opportunity to see all of the guys from my group.We swapped stories about where we had all
been. It was really lucky that 5 of the 6 of us were there and all of us have
served in different parts of the jungle. We all shared our experiences like we
were experts in our part of the jungle. A cool part is that I served the
longest in the jungle, that’s because I wasn’t as sick as they all got. All of
them had to return to Lima because they were really sick. I think all of that
praying we all did cashed in.

Something
that I have been learning really well here in the mission is that the
missionaries are normal people too. All of the things that I have been teaching
I have come to realize can be used not just here in the mission but in all of
my life. Ok, I know that this is a little corny but here is a good example. I
have been in a lot lessons now.Every
single time that we teach someone new, they always want me to pray. I have been
praying.I ask for normal things like
bless the family with good health and with knowledge, bless them with work, and
bless them with food on their table… lots of really normal things. I have been
reading in Preach my Gospel Book and I found something really interesting that
burned me pretty bad. There is a part in the 10th chapter in the
Spanish version that talks about how we should pray. Specifically says that we
need to pray with a precise purpose.With a precise purpose that the investigator will understand what we are
saying through the power of the Holy Ghost. The lesson that I learned is this…
A lot of times I just have been thinking in my head that the Holy Ghost will
come and help me because I am teaching, but we need to ask for the blessing
before he can give us his power. In our lives we just expect sometimes the
blessings from the Lord.We need to
spend more time asking with faith.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Wow how cool it is to see you in those earrings in the picture you
sent. I am always wondering about that stuff, if what I sent arrived and the
condition that it all arrived in. This next week I am going to send a cd that
has a ton of photos on it. Hopefully it will arrive without any problems.

So in response to the millions of questions Mom asked.

How is the work? The work right now is pretty hard we are trying hard to find new
people to teach and we are having some success now and then. These things come
with time.

How is my companion? My companion is the same old fart. I think that he is great,
really funny and likes to have fun; makes the work a little bit easier.

What are you doing for your Preparation day (P-day)? Today we are having a very unusual event happen
we are having a massive multiple zone conference slash family home evening
tonight. I think that it is going to be super sweet because I get to see some
of the guys from my group. I will be sure to bring my camera.

Are there any Holiday coming up? (We asked this because we
don’t always receive a letter when a holiday comes along.) Well we just had a crazy holiday here. One of
the major catholic saints had a “birthday” so there were crazy long lines of
people in the streets yelling and holding flowers. It was pretty interesting to
see them all and it made it pretty hard to teach because everyone was outside.

How is the food? What are
you eating? The food here well… its food. Still lots of
rice and chicken and rice and chicken and rice and chicken and rice and
chicken… oh ya and a little bit more of rice and chicken and rice and chicken…
and sometimes… they serve rice and chicken.

What else do you do on P-days? This p-day we are going to
play the national sport of South American.
Here in the South America they call it futbol, but in the United States
of America we call it SOCCER. I am pretty tired of playing soccer.

Do you do your own laundry? Well we have a place that
does our Laundry for us. When I was in Iquitos the pensionista, ya, she did
everything, but here we take all our dirty clothing to the Laundry mat.

What did you do on the 4th of July? I spent
the fourth of July… working… because that holiday doesn’t exist here! Hahahahah.

What is the weather like? It is hard for me to
remember that it is summer in Montana right now… nuts. Right now it is pretty
cold, that’s only because of the humidity.

How is your health? I have a cold right now
but that’s all good… I would rather have a cold then be stomach sick again like
I was in Iquitos.

How are your shoes holding up?
(He talked about black boots but we couldn’t find them at home) The
black boots, Yes, we thought about buying the ankle high boots but we never
bought them because I didn’t want to spend the money on them. So stop looking for them! The other
dock martins that I took with me were… drum role… awful. They fell apart; I
will send you a picture of them. It’s pretty funny. I have taken Uncle Joe´s
shoes three times to a tailor because those too keep falling apart. Hmmmmmmm
maybe the military has a boot that will last a little longer. I don’t want shin
high boots, only above the ankle if that is possible.

Interesting side note… I say this with love… but… Mom, Dad you are
just such a sweet couple of old koots. I love seeing pictures of you guys. It
makes me super happy to see all the differences in you. I don’t know, I don’t
feel like I am changing all that much, but you all are starting to look
different to me. Maybe because I am surround by Latinos… or maybe I am just
imagining things.

Well I am happy that Aubrei and John are still going strong. I
hope that everything goes super well. I just keep saying the same thing every
week but that’s because I really don’t know anything… that’s ok though.

I saw a poster for Captain America this week while I was on the
bus. So as you can assume it was only for like 6 seconds, Looks cool.

I think by now you can tell that I don’t have a cool story for
this week. I was thinking about what I could write about today. I arrived at the conclusion that I have no
idea. (So he answered all of Mom’s questions..Yeah!!)

Monday, July 11, 2011

Thanks
dad for your letter and I know exactly what you mean… really it is super hard
to write about something different every week because sometimes there is just
nothing going on.

So I will
have to take some new pictures hopefully I can take them in better lighting so
that you have better pictures on your side.

I have
been reading a lot in the Book of Mormon lately. I have been spending a lot of
time to really study the book. To take out all that I can from the pages. I
have taken to marking it and writing down my thoughts on sticky notes. I
have also made it one of my goals to come back and have the ability to answer
whatever question Haleigh or Saydi has in their Spanish home work. Don’t worry
girls I am coming back… just wait for me!!!!!

I
have been spending a lot of time in reflection. Thinking about how much I have
changed. This all began with one of our investigators. We have an investigator
that left for the United States to work when his children were 13 and 10 and
like 4. When he came back 12 years later, he though in his mind he knew that
his children would change, but still expected to find them a little bit like he
left them. We had a very deep conversation with him that eventually lead to
tears… he was having a hard time with the fact that his youngest daughter, now
16, didn’t like him and doesn’t respect what he tells her. To be honest I
shared a little about our family and what has happened to us. We arrived at a
humbling conclusion. He will always be the father of the family, the provider,
the protector. Sometimes when we are young we cannot see that we take advantage
of our blessing like the Nephites. They had many blessings, and peace in the
land but because of pride all returned to war and bloodshed. Sure in this day
and age we don’t use swords, axes or bows… but our words can cause more damage
than material weapons. The ability to control our words is a talent. The urge
to yell, more often than not, triumphs over reason. I quickly realized in this
lesson that I was learning a principle of life. How do I apply this knowledge?
In a talk given to missionaries in the MTC Elder Bednar said that we could have
success in the mission if we applied three ideologies in our teachings. He
counseled us in that we could improve every message given by categorizing the
lesson in Doctrines, Principles, and Applications. For example if I wanted to
teach a lesson about the Atonement (doctrine), the principles are the fall of
Adam, and our purpose here on the earth and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and
repentance. How do I apply the Atonement? I can repent; partake of the
sacrament, fast, read the scriptures about the Atonement, ect. If I apply this
same system of thought to the lesson I had with my investigator, I am able to
see the situation differently. In this case I began in reverse; the application
is humility and an increase in love. I need to ask myself, what could I
teach him that could help him to be more humble and loving? Faiths, repentance,
baptism, receive the Holy Ghost and endure to the end. Doctrine: the Gospel of
Jesus Christ. This method of thinking can develop the stronger capability to teach
to the needs of someone and not the lessons. I know that all I learn here in
the mission is applicable outside the 2 year training period. The mission
trains the missionary to be a better convert just as quickly as he is willing
to accept the fact that we to must learn.

What will
it be like to come back? I don’t know.

Will
everyone change while I am gone? You can bet on it.

Is there
any reason to worry about it? Absolutely not!

Love ya
and miss ya

Elder
Harris

There are
only three things that i really do need. thumb drive, ankle high black boots
and................................... a new journal!!!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

I loved seeing the pictures!!!!!! They was really cool… to see the pictures of the girls at girls camp and the pictures of Aubrei and John… (I am looking forward to being an uncle).

The name of my ward and the area I serve is called Mariscal Casceres. My typical day is get up at 6:30, pray, then jump up and down a little, scream at the top of my lungs, then head off to the shower. Then get dressed, run down stairs and across the street. Eat breakfast which is one scrambled egg and some bread. Then go right back to the room and study. First I study by myself for an hour, later with the companion for an hour, and then the language for an hour. After that we pray and head out to start the day. We are out there knocking on doors until lunch at 1:00. We eat in a member’s house … usually rice and chicken… then we head out again to proselyte until 5:00. Eat a small dinner of pancakes. Next run back out to our appointments in the night. Come back to the house about 9 or 9:30 then we plan for the next day. I write in my journal. Take a shower. Sleep and start all over again.

My companion is great. He is really funny and likes to work hard, so we get along well. He is not new, he has 14 months. The Spanish is coming along really great… super fantastic. I really like having the ability to talk in a foreign language. I am super pumped to come home and talk to John in Spanish and have Aubrei not understand a thing. As of today I have yet to give a talk in this new ward. I did give an introduction of myself just like the missionaries at home do… but that’s super easy. You need to look at the food on the internet because I really don’t know what to say about it.

(Mom asked what he wanted for his birthday and this is answer) Well I was thinking about the next package. It would be nice to have some flaming hot Cheetos and Zours and well any of my favorite sour and hot candies. In my dreams of dreams, it would be nice if you sent my black ankle high boots. Then I could do some serious tracking, that would be incredible and the thumb drive.

Neat experience this week….

I was fasting for a family that we are teaching. The purpose of my fast was to help the mom of this family have the desire to be married to her husband. He loves the gospel and is coming to church but cannot be baptized because she doesn’t want to get married to him. The strange/best part is that they have been together for 25 years… amazing right? So we went to teach them last night… so earlier I broke my fast at lunch. We entered the house and fantastic the whole family was together. This was miracle one. We always just teach him, the papa, and his daughter. We started teaching lesson three, which talks about getting baptized as the focus of the lesson. We arrived at the baptism part of the conversation when the daughter said something really interesting that I thought I would never hear leave her mouth. She is 22 years old and said “can you explain to me why my father cannot get baptized” the funny thing is we had explained this before… before I could respond.. She blurted out another question… “Is it ok for a Mormon and a catholic to be married?” We all laughed at little at her bluntness and her mother looked at her with a very scolding face. We then explained that there is no problem with a marriage between the two religions, that there is no rule against it. We then changed the entire focus of the lesson… about the importance of being married. The mama didn’t say anything about wanting to get married, but this was the first time that we had an opportunity to see her face when we talked about it. I think she felt a little of the spirit because the way we explained the importance of marriage. This whole experience really boosted my testimony about fasting. When we fast we are showing the lord that we have strength over our bodies, that we can humble ourselves, and live through the pains of hunger. Really it is a blessing that we have this opportunity. It may not seem that way while we are in the process of fasting… but I know that the blessings are reality. When we pray with specific concerns, we receive specific solutions.

Thank you all for all the time that you spend praying and fasting for me. I really am able to feel the strength of the Lord and I know that I can give a little of the credit to you at home. I miss you all but know that there is no other place that I should be.